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Squats, Heavy Squats And Squatters (Part 3)

By: Mick Hart. Now the Doc Squat is about power and the use of all possible aid like lifting suits,thick belt, knee wraps, much more sophisticated style, by spreading feet past shoulder width. After that the bar is carried as far down the back as your P.L. rules allow you to, (below the delts) with a lot of forward leaning so that the glutes and spinal erectors (low back) can share the weight with the thighs. In the sport of powerlifting this actual lift is given as completed once the top of the thighs hit parallel.

The P.L. technique allows up to 2O% more poundage to be lifted than in a bodybuilders more upright and deeper squat technique. Fred Hatfield advises use of a padded towel to save neck pain from the bar across the vetebral column and not to relax when in the low position, a habit which could damage the knees. Again it is best if you have the genetics of shorter legs to squat heavy.

Incredibly enough good old Arnold did not have a genetic advantage with his extra long legs, but he too started off by making the common mistake of training his upper body a lot harder than his legs. He recalls though that after he had trained hard on legs that he really began to make progress. He was able to train 3 hours or more on just squats, managing about 5O sets and continually making his best progress with the standard squat. Arnold like anyone else that has had to learn the hard way, warns not ever to bounce when in the low squat position and to try and use just controlled movements.

I would be brave enough to say that in my opinion the strongest leg developer in bodybuilding would have to be Tom Platz. He started bodybuildy at the early age of 14 and he remembers that he managed a first set of squats of 10 reps and with a load of 9Olbs/4Okg, so he decided to turn to powerlifting when he was 19. His first training routines were so tough with squats as his main exercise. It's still gets me to know that he could lift 25Olbs/II3.3k and could squat for IO minutes and working up to I5O reps, by resting and then repeating.

In 1982 at the Mr Olympia contest, the guy did 2O reps with 5I5lbs/233.5k and 8 reps with 635lbs/288k at a mere 22Olbs/99.7k bodyweight, and incredibly enough without using knee wraps. I must admit that I have always looked up to Platz's strict controlled form and it's still pretty welll the same. Squats is must for all champs and make sure you get a good look at Ronnie Coleman's amazing legs.

Should you ever come across Flex Wheeler, Chris Cormier or Kevin Levrone doing a front ab and thighs, you can just see how hard and well they have trained. Any up and coming champion will have to do a variety of squats, but always using common sense as a guide. If you do take this type of training seriously then avoid over training, bad form and do over do it with the weight used.

What we are really trying to achieve with this type of exercise is to make the muscles work really hard, so the amount of weight used is not the important factor. We need to get it into our heads that this is not a power lifting exercise, but a development exercise so make sure you do lighter, high reps squats. You probably just hate squats just like the majority of bodybuilders, but try a few sessions and you will soon see what it can do for your muscle development.